Note: Pam Sitko did not write this story, but is comfortable talking about Child Friendly Spaces in Myanmar, and their impact on children and the community.

We could hear the voices of the children as soon as we stepped off the boat, onto the jetty.  As we followed them, the child-friendly space appeared, with young boys running around, girls skipping ropes and throwing balls to each other.  The faces of the children, full of sincere smiles, can melt one's heart away. 

"Nya nya, nya nya," "clap, clap, clap, clap, " was the sound inside the centre, as the children all moved inside to sing a song together.  After singing sessions, the 80 or more children grouped to draw paintings or colour pictures, build toy houses, play tic-tac-toe, football or skip ropes again. 

"What the children are getting today from the child-friendly spaces is the best thing that has happened to us, " said Soe Myint, a father of eight, looking at the children inside the centre.  All his children come here.  Their village was one of the areas hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis.

Yearning to belong

“I am especially glad for my son Pho Htoo, who is six years old,” he continued.  “He was born with his right leg and hand deformed.  His short fingers cannot grasp things properly and he cannot stand flat-footed on his right foot.”

A year ago, Soe Myint tried to enroll his son in school, but the headmistress denied his application.  The hard-working, under-staffed headmistress was already teaching around 100 children.  "I'm sorry I don't have enough staff to pay full attention to Phoe Htoo,” she explained, “because he cannot stand and move around on his own."

Pho Htoo overheard this conversation.  He wanted so badly to go to school, that he tried to stand up on his own.  His foot swelled up when he did this but he didn’t give up.  He continued trying to stand, as his foot continued to swell.  It took weeks of treatment with traditional medicines and herbs before the little boy could limp around again.

Hopes dashed

He had hoped to try school in June, 2008, when he was a little older and stronger.  But just a month short of that important date, that school was destroyed by Cylone Nargis.  He and the more than 500 other villages had suffered the strongest cyclone Myanmar has ever seen.

"I was cold and frightened when we were running in the rain," said Pho Htoo.  His 17-year-old sister Pa Pa said, "Mum took Pho Htoo and two other children, while Dad and I took the rest of the five children and ran in the waist high water on the village road.  My mum even stumbled into a small pond while she was running.  We had to pull her out."  Many of the villagers ran to higher ground on the road when their homes began flooding.

About ten days after Nargis hit the country, World Vision arrived at their village with a boat laden with rice bags.  The villagers were amazed.  They never thought that help would come like that.   Water pots with an earthen filter attached were also provided later.

Finding strength and healing

A few months later, a temporary school was built.  Only then, was Pho Htoo able to go to school.  Around the same time, World Vision built a bamboo shelter nearby to use as a child-friendly space. 

Pho Htoo comes to play at the child-friendly space every morning.  Even though a temporary school was built and he could now attend, he come to the centre every day. "I like building house best," said Pho Htoo, when asked about his favourite game at the centre.  “When I grow up, I will build houses.”

His father said he and his wife were so worried for him before he went to school. "But today, we are glad because his leg became stronger after playing in the school and the center," said Pho Htoo's father.  "He is running around more," added his father.

The children see the child-friendly space as a place where they can forget their fears, or talk about them if they need to.  "If we are at home, and when there are signs that the rains are coming, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  I just don't know what to do," said a teenage girl, Nilar Win.   “Now, I'm less frightened but I will never forget that day,” she added. 

Pho Htoo's father observes the changes in his children since that day.  “They have become so confident of themselves. They, and we alike, need a place like this.”